


A liability in field

by armethaumaturgy



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Anxiety, Fake AH Crew, Graphic Description, Insecurity, M/M, Pre-Fake AH Crew, Torture, Violence, pls be cautious, there's acid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 14:31:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4439054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armethaumaturgy/pseuds/armethaumaturgy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan told him once, when they were together on a small stealing job, one of those that they were best at. ‘As soon as you become a liability in field, you put all the others in danger.<br/>Liabilities don’t have a place in our field of job.’</p>
            </blockquote>





	A liability in field

This wasn’t the first mission Ray had been on, not by a long, long stretch of imagination. Ray had sniped for people before, many times before. It wasn’t even his partner, the Mad Mercenary King. He had worked with Ryan already, lots of times.

So he wasn’t sure why, why the fuck he was feeling so off, a sense of impending doom looming over his head and making him nervous.

Ryan’s voice was in his ear, asking for a check over. Ray scoped the warehouse from his spot on the roof of the opposite building. Ryan recently made a great deal and he wanted to get the money, but didn’t trust the man, so he got Ray to come get it with him instead. A… surprisingly good idea, given how many people were after the blond’s masked head. Ray let Ryan know that it was still clear and heard the man 'hmmm’ in return.

“I’m going in,” Ryan declared.

Ray pointed his sniper rifle at the door, just in case this was a trap. Ryan opened it, kicking it inwards and hiding behind a wall. Ray zoomed in at the darkness inside, but nothing moved, so he gave the clear to Ryan, “No one I can see inside.”

Ryan slipped in, disappearing in the dark, out of Ray’s line of sight and the younger pointed the scope around, making sure no one was coming to surprise them from behind.

Ryan didn’t speak until he slipped out again, a duffel bag (filled with cash, no doubt) slung over his left shoulder. “I’ve got it,” he announced and Ray watched him look up at his hiding spot momentarily. His expression was unreadable behind the mask, but Ray was sure he was grinning; he grinned back.

It was mere milliseconds later that Ryan tensed up, hissing rather loudly in his ear, “Behind you!”

Ray’s eyes went wide, his head whipping from his scope to look around, but he didn’t catch even a glimpse before he was hit overhead with something cold and hard and he slumped down like a sack of potatoes, unconscious. 

○○○○○○○○○○

His head was swimming as he woke up, a headache pounding through his whole head. He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were heavy and he only managed a small crack before wincing and shutting them again.

His mouth was dry, he found out when he tried to swallow, and when he tried to sit up he found out he couldn’t help himself with his hands; they were bound by thick rope and so were his ankles, leaving him almost motionless on the ground - the cold, hard and bumpy ground - most likely concrete.

His eyes flew open despite the onslaught of light against his retinas making him squint.

He was in a small room, only illuminated by the sunlight streaming in through the small window below the ceiling. The walls were bare, just like the floor. The whole room was bare, save for a faint stench of blood in the air, only serving to make Ray feel even antsier.

The door standing on the wall behind him opened with a loud creak, startling Ray and making him turn his head to look in its direction. A lone figure stood in the doorway and Ray had to crane his neck to see who it was. When he did, his breath got caught up in his throat.

Standing in the doorway, looming over him, was Edgar in all of his cow-masked glory.

●●●●●●●●●●

Ryan swore audibly when Ray’s connection shortened out, filling his ear with just static and - otherwise - silence.

He cursed and cursed, and then cursed some more, dropping the bag as he forced his legs to run as fast as they could. A heavy, sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, making bile rise up his throat. His breath came loud and short - cut-off - underneath the mask, which he yanked off, finding it more obstructive than ever before in his life as he kept looking left and right frantically.

When he ascended to the roof that used to be Ray’s hiding spot, the feeling only worsened, making his knees tremble as he gasped for breath, feeling as though he was suffocating.

Ray was gone, the bloody smudge on the ground the only trace that he had ever been there. That, and his earpiece, tossed down and stomped on.

○○○○○○○○○○

Ryan told him once, when they were together on a small stealing job, one of those that they were best at. 'As soon as you become a liability in field, you put all the others in danger. Liabilities don’t have a place in our field of job.’

Ray thought it a simple advice from someone who was in the field longer, not something that would come to haunt his thoughts as he became the liability, that exact thing that Ryan was talking about.

Ray wasn’t even sure how they got to the topic of work liabilities, maybe Ryan had been talking about his previous jobs or maybe Ray asked why he was so careful, he really didn’t know anymore.

What he did know, in turn - and what his mind was adamant on reminding him of -, was that Ryan didn’t take too kindly to people who became a threat to the mission he was working on. And, as Ray found himself in just that place, he was about a million percent sure he didn’t take too kindly to him, now.

'Liabilities have to be abandoned. You can’t let them take you down with them,’ Ryan said, his voice stern and his face a tight neutral mask.

Ryan said it with a small sense of concern, like a wise old man (which he wasn’t) passing down the secrets of the universe, but all that Ray could hear in his head were the words, warped in that low, threatening tone Ryan used when negotiating or torturing people.

Bottom line, his brain supplied - Ryan wasn’t coming for him.

And it probably wasn’t the best time to think about it, as he was strapped to a chair in a cold room, the hairs on the back of his neck standing. And maybe it was the best, because he couldn’t hang onto non-existent hope that Ryan might come.

He was going to be tortured. He had been in that business long enough to know how this worked (even though it wasn’t his field, oh god no).

Edgar was standing a few feet in front of his, holding a phone underneath his mask, and that only served to make things a lot more weird. Because all that Ray could think about wasn’t 'he might kill me’, 'scratch that, he will kill me’, 'and he’s gonna make it hurt’ – no, all he could think about was that Ryan didn’t answer phone calls like that.

Though their masks were almost identical in size, Ryan would act like it wasn’t even present and go about his business like it was his second face (it was, in a sense). Edgar, on the other hand, seemed to only think of it as a mean of presentation. It was obvious that he was bothered by wearing it nonstop, even to Ray.

Sometime later, maybe minutes, maybe even an hour, the call was done and Edgar set the phone down onto a small, metallic tray full of scalpels and tools that Ray couldn’t even find a name for (and he didn’t want). It looked straight out of a horror film, and as Ray realised they weren’t just for show, he felt a creeping shiver run down his spine.

“So,” Edgar started, his voice low and somehow making Ray feel even worse, if possible. “We can do this three ways. I’m gonna ask you questions and you either answer, I pry the answers out of you, or…” He paused, his eyes boring into Ray through the mask. “I pry them out of you along with your intestines.”

Ray was pretty sure he blanked out for a few seconds due to the pure shock because okay what the actual fuck he wouldn’t do that – oh of course he would do it oh my god. Bile was sitting heavily at the bottom of his throat. He hadn’t done this before. He watched Ryan torture a few people, but that was quick and… Ray was sure Ryan could’ve done much worse things, but he hadn’t. But Edgar wasn’t Ryan, was the exact opposite of Ryan, and Ray had never been captured before.

“Okay then,” Edgar continued when Ray didn’t make a peep. “Let’s start with the prying way.”

●●●●●●●●●●

Ryan knew exactly where to go. Or, rather, who to go to. The only person who would go so far as to capture someone from his team – Ray – was Edgar.

Ryan’s blood boiled at the mere thought of that fucking cow mask. How that fucker even had the guts to take Ray was far, far beyond Ryan’s comprehension.

He’d tear him to shreds the first chance he got.

Ryan knew a few of his hideouts and he guessed (je hoped, but wouldn’t admit that out loud) that he would take Ray somewhere he could find them. After all, he was the one Edgar wanted to hurt, not Ray. Well yeah, Ray, and through him, Ryan.

Ryan systematically checked every single hideout, surprising the smaller goons that worked for Edgar with grenades and guns blazing. With each one, that little hope, burning deep within his chest, got smaller and smaller, and the already overwhelming sense of dread got stronger and stronger.

When he did find the one that Edgar was currently in, he just wished he could’ve been faster.

○○○○○○○○○○

Ray panted harshly, chest heaving with each breath. He stared up at Edgar, the man blurred since he had long lost his glasses. Blood was streaking down his exposed chest, from all the cuts that were littering it.

Edgar was skilled with knifes, he had to give the man that. The cuts stung; they were made to hurt lastingly. But even if Edgar tried (and he did try), Ray didn’t say anything. He couldn’t out Ryan, he couldn’t.

It didn’t matter than he wouldn’t come to save him, Ray couldn’t do that to Ryan. He just couldn’t.

Edgar seemed to come to the same conclusion, because he sighed and placed Ray’s glasses back on his face – rather harshly. “Now, Ray, listen,” he hissed, motioning to the two men standing in the doorway whom Ray hadn’t even noticed before. They turned and disappeared and Edgar yanked Ray’s hair. “I want you to look, look closely now, okay?”

The two lackeys returned, carrying a man, bound in a similar fashion as Ray, with an added gag shoved in his mouth. The man was middle aged, with graying hair and lanky body – they sat him down into a chair a few meters opposite of Ray.

“This,” Edgar said, motioning with a single hand, “is the head of the biggest black bank in Achievement city. I want to show you what I’ll do to you if you continue not talking.”

One of the lackeys was also carrying a small bottle with a clear liquid. Somehow, Ray had a feeling it wasn’t water.

“That is sulfuric acid,” Edgar supplied. “Do you know what it does?”

Ray’s mouth was dry as he shook his head slightly, as much as he could with Edgar still gripping his jaw.

“Then I could show you.”

He nodded to the men and one of them took off the gag from the bound man’s mouth. He immediately started spilling pleas. “Please, don’t do this, please, please…” over and over. One of the men held him still, yanking his hair to crane his head backwards as other man stepped closer, uncapping the bottle with a glowed hand.

Ray swallowed dryly, eyes wide as he watched the goon start pouring the acid onto the man’s face. The scream that followed was the worst kind of Ray could even imagine. Long and drawn out, the man started to thrash around, spasming in one of the goons’ hold.

Ray shut his eyes, gritting his teeth, feeling absolutely sick. Edgar, without a change in his lack stance, yanked on his hair. “I told you to watch,” he hissed dangerously. “So watch.”

Ray tentatively opened his eyes again, scared – terrified – of what Edgar would do if he refused. The man’s scream turned into a gurgling noise that couldn’t quite be classified and he stopped thrashing by now.

From his position, Ray could see the burns all over his face, deforming it. He gagged.

“Well, now that you know my little friend, I’m sure you don’t want to get up and close with him,” Edgar chuckled darkly, letting go of Ray’s hair as the young man doubled over and vomited all over his shoes. “I’ll give you until morning to think over your silence again.”

And with that, he left, taking the goons with him and leaving Ray in the dark room with just the corpse of the man and the burning stench of skin and mean in the air.

●●●●●●●●●●

“This is irrational,” Ryan had said, but he kissed back nevertheless. Ray hung onto his jacket as they were pressed against the wall, chest to chest.

His mask ended up on the ground, discarded and forgotten as the younger’s fingers tangled in his hair. They barely made it to the bedroom of Ryan’s apartment before they were all over each other, clothes thrown away and bodies, slick with sweat, pressed together.

And maybe it had been irrational, but that night, with Ray’s smaller frame pressed up against his side, Ryan realised something.

This wouldn’t end up as a one night stand. He was in too deep; Ray’s calm breath against his neck was soothing and the arm draped across his chest was pleasant.

'If you get attached to someone, they become your weak point,’ he kept telling himself every time he worked with someone. But Ray…

It was different with Ray. He didn’t care (not as much as he should’ve, at least), the Puerto Rican had somehow wormed his way into his heart and he didn’t care and it made him slightly scared.

○○○○○○○○○○

He had always been great at stealth. It didn’t matter that there were cameras all over Edgar’s place, it didn’t matter that there were goons keeping watch on every corner. He wasn’t called Mad Mercenary King for no reason.

Leaving a trail of dead bodies, he searched the hideout as fast as he could. It took him almost a full day to find the place, there was no telling what Edgar might’ve done to Ray already. Maybe he had already…

No. don’t think like that, he scolded himself, scoffing.

He wandered into rooms after rooms, mostly empty – this must’ve been a new hideout, Ryan thought – until he stumbled into a room that wasn’t quite empty.

Even in the almost non-existent light, he could see two chairs in the middle on the room, facing each other. There were people slumped in each one. The room smelled of burned meat and hair; Ryan sucked in a harsh breath.

One of the figured turned its head to look in his direction and Ryan would’ve cried in relief when he recognised Ray’s face, though beaten and bruised. His anger flailed yet again.

“…You came,” Ray muttered quietly as Ryan hurried to slice the ropes holding him. It was meek and held a twinge of bewilderment, as if Ray couldn’t believe that yes, Ryan had come to get him.

“Of course I came, what did you think – that I’d leave you?” Ryan mumbled back, resisting the urge to roll his eyes because hey, Ray’s chest was littered with cuts and bleeding and holy shit Ryan’s rage just skyrocketed. He hissed, gritting his teeth as he tugged off his jacket, wrapping it around Ray’s shoulder because the shorter was trembling.

Ray didn’t answer, just held the leather closer to himself and let Ryan wrap an arm around his shoulders.

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked, a little belated, observing Ray to see if he shouldn’t carry him. They had to hurry before someone found all the dead that Ryan left all around.

Ray shook his head, but Ryan could see him wincing as he breathed, see him bullshitting his way out of Ryan’s concern.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ryan said, pulling Ray along as he moved out. “What else did he do to you?” he asked, scanning the hallway to make sure everything was quiet.

“Punched and kicked me a bit,” Ray shrugged, 'tsk'ing as it irritated his wounds. There was a beat of silence as Ryan forced his body to stay calm because he could imagine Edgar sneering behind that stupid cow mask as he kicked his little Ray and it made his blood boil and steam. Then, Ray asked quietly, “Why did you come for me?”

And that actually made Ryan stop, right in the middle of the hallway. “What are you talking about? I couldn’t leave you,” he hissed, gazing at Ray unbelievingly.

Ray turned his head, avoiding his mask and biting his lip. “…liability…” he breathed out, nothing more than a whisper.

And Ryan remembered, because he always remembered what he had said, and the conversation flowed into his head and he wanted nothing more than to kick Ray for applying that to himself and kick himself for ever saying that and skin Edgar for making Ray go through this.

As soon as you become a liability in field, you put all the others in danger. Liabilities don’t have a place in our field of job. Liabilities have to be abandoned. You can’t let them take you down with them.

“Ray…” Ryan said, stumbling over all the words in his head because fuck fuck no, he would never think of Ray as a liability, never never never. “You’re not a liability, okay?” he said, following the biggest voice that kept mentally shouting at him. “I wouldn’t leave you here, never, you hear? Never.”

And that seemed enough to Ray, because he slumped and held onto Ryan’s upper arm, pressing his forehead against it. They stayed like that, Ryan’s hand coming to (somehow) awkwardly rub Ray’s back. He had never dealt with anything like this before, and he had a feeling Ray hadn’t either.

“We have to get out of here,” Ryan reminded him and Ray nodded, following Ryan as they traced the path the blond took, Ray’s fingers still holding onto Ryan’s sleeve tightly. The only thing Ryan wanted more than anything was to stay, to find Edgar and strangle him, carve him out, tear off his limbs, anything painful. But he also wanted to get Ray as far away from this place as he could, to make sure he was okay, clean his wounds and sleep it all off.

He’d get Edgar, the very next chance there was, because there was no chance, no fucking chance, that he was getting off the hook. He might’ve fucked with Ryan, but taking Ray was too much. By the back door, the one that he used to come in, Ryan pulled off his mask and threw it into the corridor behind them, leaving it as a message, to let Edgar know he had been there, and that he would return.

Then they went to Ryan’s car and Ray sat in the passenger seat with his knees pulled up and his seatbelt properly on (for once) while Ryan drove them back to his apartment, breaking about a hundred traffic laws.

●●●●●●●●●●

“He killed a man,” Ray said offhandedly as Ryan cleaned his chest, dabbing the cuts with alcohol. Ryan didn’t know whether it was to distract himself or if it meant something deeper. “In that room where you found me. Right in front of me.”

Ryan pulled away, looking up from his crouched position and urging Ray to continue talking.

“You know sulfuric acid?” Ray asked him and he nodded, getting a picture in his head. “He made one of his guys pour it onto the man’s face. It must’ve melted through his eyes into his brain or something, I don’t know… but he – the – the fucking screams, man…” Ray trailed off, covering his eyes.

“Ray, it’s okay,” Ryan said, in a poor attempt to calm him.

“Said he’d do the same to me,” Ray continued. “Well, didn’t say it openly, just implied it but –”

“Ray,” Ryan repeated, hand coming to rest on Ray’s cheek and tilting his chin so he would look at him. For a second, it was Edgar’s hand gripping his jaw and the man’s face was back in front of him, but then Ryan stroked his cheek with his fingers and it disappeared, Ryan’s face – full of concern and… something – staring at him intently. “It’s okay,” Ryan told him. “He won’t be able to do it, I promise.”

Ray opened his mouth to say something, but closed it a minute later, deciding against it and instead nodding. Ryan’s simple words of reassurance were doing wonders to his tired and bruised body and mind.

“And you’re not a liability,” Ryan continued even without being told to. “Not now, not ever. Partners aren’t liabilities.”

“Sexual partners or work partners?” Ray asked, cracking a crooky smile.

“Whatever you want.” The blond shrugged, standing up and reaching into the first aid kit for bandages.

“Does that mean I don’t have to say 'no homo’ anymore?”

Ryan chuckled, “Sure.”


End file.
